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| Past Exhibitions |
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Irving Penn "Platinum Test Material" For over forty years Irving Penn has been one of the most innovative, and popular photographers. During much of that time he has in fact gone against the trends of his contemporaries, however, challenging his own prior work and assumptions, he has challenged the art world as well. In 1964, as Diana Arbus, Garry Winogrand and others rebuked the idea of the modernist "fine print", Pen began printing in the poetic warm tonalities afforded by platinum metals. "Platinum Test Material" provides a fascinating look at the method and æuvre of this most important artist, through the medium of his own tests - the printing materials whereby he shaped his vision. Penn, long called "painterly" by commentators, here turns constructivist, combining fragmented, familiar images into collage-like explorations of the dominant themes of his career. Amounting to an historical self-examination, this unique exhibition is much more than a collection of "leftovers", as Penn calls them, and it is more than merely a technical exploration as well. Penn occupies a stylistic ground made up of seemingly contradictory elements. Though long recognized for his contributions to the printed page, Penn has made photographic prints which must be seen first hand; their subtle tones and gradations cannot be reproduced. His choices of subject matter diverge: fashion photographs of exquisitely dressed models and portraits of the well-known contrast with still lifes of street refuse and ethnographic portraits of anonymous people. One constant through all Penn's work, however, has been his elegant, isolating style and his use of spare backgrounds. No matter how different, all his subjects are photographed in the neutral, mediating environment of the studio. The seventeen constructions in "Platinum Test Material" reproduce that mediating experience. All his subjects, wheter still life, portrait, or fashion, become "of-a-piece" within the frame. Gestures repeat from image to image. Figures, isolated originally by Penn's simplified style and still again in their test strip form, are powerfull both alone and in combination. This rare display of the process of photography grants viewers insight into the precise and ineluctable connection between medium and message: the collected "ghosts" of Penn's past are proof of the artist's transforming and defining power. Terence Pitts |
